Home Town Realty

Ez1 Realty is proud to announce a new and exciting move. Ez1 Realty has now joined Home Town Realty in Campbelsport, Wisconsin. This move came about through considerable thought and planning. Key ingredients in the decision included:

A market base concentrating on small town living and values

A commitment to service

Teamwork

Networking within the community

Networking with top professionals in Real Estate

An established team of Real Estate professionals

Experience

Too often the term, “independent contractor,” is taken to the extreme. Although Real Estate Agents and Brokers are structured under the concept of an independent contractor relationship as defined by the State of Wisconsin, that does not mean every man and woman for themselves. Some offices operate on a rather strange view of the term, “independent contractor.” Here is your license. There is your car. Now go out and sell.

When we look at the concept of new home construction, we see a team of independent contractors coming together at the right time to fulfill their part of the job. When one contractor fails, the project fails, and the homeowner suffers. Not many people possess all the skills required to construct a house from the ground up. Then why do some Real Estate offices assume their Agents can take on every role in Real Estate sales from beginning to end and still provide the quality service the public deserves? If sales only involved existing single family homes, independent agents could excel. But Real Estate consists of a wide variety of properties from single to multifamily units, investments, commercial property, business property, land, and of course, new home construction.

Success requires teamwork in every facet of the Real Estate business. Real Estate Agents are of course individuals. Each has his or her own skills and areas they excel in. What makes a good team and a great office? Cooperation consideration, dedication, the willingness to share skills, training, experience, time, and above all things, placing the customer first in every transaction.

Leave the term, “independent contractor,” where it belongs. With the dictionary, law makers, and tax collectors. When it comes to providing the public with the very best level of professional service, the term independent has to check itself at the door. Every Real Estate transaction requires dedication, communication, a confident and informed group of team players, and perfect timing. Individual Real Estate Agents can and will get the job done. But the right people working on the right team can and will take the Real Estate Sales business to the next level.

I can see Coach McCarthy instilling that concept throughout the Packer organization. I am glad to find a Real Estate office with the same mentality. Winning as a team is everything. I’m going to predict a great season for the Green Bay Packers. I am also going to predict that new concepts in the Real Estate industry will emerge from a small office in a small Wisconsin town. Home Town Realty is on the cutting edge of technology combined with the individual service, attention to detail, community involvement, and service the public has been looking for. The next level of Real Estate service has arrived.

Before you begin the home buying or selling process, you owe it to yourself to see what Home Town Realty offers. Don’t forget the investment level, new home construction, commercial property, business property, and land purchases, as well as sales. Real Estate is all about making the community grow.

Contact any one of our professionals to discuss your Real Estate needs.

A Little About Ez1 Realty

I’ve been a licensed Real Estate Agent since 2005 and a licensed Real Estate Broker since 2012. When I began my carrier in Real Estate, I joined First Weber based on the exceptional training offered. First Weber was one of the few local Brokers offering extended training courses in a formal setting. In 2005 their training program was rated number 4 in the nation. During months of training, I worked out of their office located on west Capital drive. Instead of working in the suburbs where sale prices and commissions are much higher, I decided to work within the city to gain experience thorough a greater number of sales. The plan worked out well as I was continually faced with new challenges and learning experiences.

After three years at First Weber I decided to make a move to Realty Executives. Working with one of their Agents on a number of transactions was one of the determining factors. The Agent and his office displayed the expertise and professionalism I thought was important to a successful carrier in Real Estate. Another important factor was their commitment to growth and use of the Internet. In 2008 the Internet was a rather new marketing tool. Finding a Broker committed to cutting edge technology was an important factor of my next move.

Over the years I successfully closed well over 100 sales ranging from $15,000 to $625,000. I’ve worked with Sellers and their properties all over southeast Wisconsin. I only work in areas I’m familiar with prices, neighborhoods, market trends, city rules, regulations and other important matters that have to be considered when buying and selling Real Estate. When I meet a Buyer or Seller outside my market area, I find them a qualified local Agent to work with. I grew up on the south side of Milwaukee, built a home in Muskego and another in Menomonee Falls. I’ve sold property in every corner of Milwaukee county and most every suburb in Waukesha and Washington counties. I have extensive experience with residential homes. I have also sold condominiums, retail, commercial, and industrial properties. Over the years I’ve worked with and counseled first time home buyers, worked with buyers to get qualified for loans, and helped buyers get the right loan. I’ve worked with conventional FHA, 203K loans, private funds, and cash buyers. I’ve worked on the purchase of homes from private buyers and all types of foreclosed properties. I’ve written offers on HUD, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac websites. I’ve also looked into online auctions only to find most do not comply with Wisconsin State laws regarding auctions. I feel purchasing properties without proper disclosure is too risky. Most buyers agree after I explain how standard state forms protect their interests. A form of protection most auction sites want buyers to give up.

Before pursuing a carrier in Real Estate I worked as a design engineering for over 25 years, 15 years as a project engineer designing and installing industrial finishing systems. During that time I had the pleasure of working for one of the best mangers in the business. Together we developed procedures to investigate and initiate measures using the latest technology to offer superior products at the lowest cost. We perfected the concept of identifying individual areas, investigating options, introducing new ideas on a controlled basis, and analyzing results. Using this simple system we took the least profitable department in the company, turning it around to the most profitable in a short amount of time. One of the key features of our system was to enlist the expertise of employees from all the departments and every supplier engaged in the manufacture and installation of the systems involved. Attention to detail was the key to success. No idea was too small to investigate or too large to adopt to the products we offered.

I’ve been able to integrate a number of my engineering skills into my Real Estate business. Cost savings has always been a key consideration. My concept and goal is to reduce costs and pass the savings onto customers in the form of lower Listing fees. Using the computer as a tool is an understatement. Having a background in programming and system development is essential. I enjoy developing and refining systems to streamline operations, save time, and reduce the chance of errors. I am a little surprised to see a lack of competition in the Real Estate industry to reduce costs and increase the quality of service, which is my passion.

My spare time passion is Bible study and writing Christian books which include a series on the prophecies Jesus fulfilled, stories and detailed studies on the Gospels, an engineers view on the construction of the Tabernacles, and more. Many of my studies are posted on my Internet site, Advent Bible Study on WordPress. I have a number of books published on Lulu.com. Here are the Internet links.

Family

Here is a short segment I want to work on. Family is important and one of the main reasons people look at buying a house. Family size and needs are some of the major considerations in looking for a house. So far I am adding a video of my kids. I’ll add more later. I hope this give you a few ideas of what you can do with your family. Trips and special events are also important. In the future I’ll post other pages with things to do around Sheboygan and Fond du Lac counties. Keep your eyes peeled for them. Hope you enjoy the pictures.

I woke up early this morning thinking about what to put on this new website, and how to promote it. How about a section on country life? That’s a good idea. How about a story on the lack of communication theses days. That could branch out to a number of stories. What about what I learned in my first 60 years of life? That would be a summary of all the stories I was thinking about.

One of the things I learned over the last week, while trying to get this website off the ground was, I gotta get more organized. I have been looking all over this computer for stories I wrote and I thought were ready to post. Before I dumped the old, more expensive website, I copied the top 10 stories for Real Estate Buyers and Sellers. And a few more on other issues concerning Real Estate. I found the section for Seller, but what did I do with the Buyers stories? I always have a back up plan. So I went to plan B. That didn’t work out so well. I have a new computer, and that does not have Lotus Notes on it. So I can’t open the files. I realized, I have not used Lotus Notes for years. That told me, Real Estate has not really changed over the years. The only thing that has changed is, the Internet is giving some people a monopoly on just about every field of business in this world. People bid on Internet ads, and it is getting really expensive. I mean really expensive. So where does that money come from? Expenses are of course passed onto the consumer, some how. In Real Estate that means, it will cost more to list and sell your property. A few years ago I received a call from one of the leading websites a lot of people use to search for a new home. The zip code I lived in had a starting bid of over $3000 per month. Think about that. What does that amount to? Agents are giving up a sale, or at least half of a sale a month to a company that will put their picture and phone number on the side of every page you visit in that zip code. What does that mean to the average buyer who decides to use that agent? You think about it. Wouldn’t you expect a little bit of high pressure sales?

By the way, Plan C worked and I have the posts I wrote for Buyers and have been posting some of those. I consider myself more organized than most people. I’ve been around computers since they were the size of a room, and didn’t do much of anything. I saw something special in a computer and looked at how to use it as a tool. I worked in the design and engineering fields. I worked as a temporary rent a pencil. That was one of the slang terms for an engineer that was hired as a temp. I worked for a number of companies and later was sold off as a consultant. I caught onto systems companies used, and developed some rather simple filing and numbering systems that saved tons of time. Also communication skills between engineering and the many departments they worked with. Word soon spread and I was hired out as a consultant to a number of companies. When I went into Real Estate, I wrote down the most effective step by step process and followed it to the letter. I had maybe 2-3 late closings over the years. Today I hear stories that most closing happen late. That’s when people play the blame game. How is a first time home buyer supposed to know they were supposed to do this or that, or have those forms in by a certain date unless someone tells them? That goes right back to the high cost of advertising and the need to push the new sale through. In reality that never works. Things pile up and the next thing you know is you have a log jamb. Common sense will tell anyone, the more work you try shoveling out, the more drops off the shovel. You not only have to be organized and effective, you have to know and respect your limits.

I also learned this age of cell phones and Internet is contrary to proper communication. Sure they are tools, but how many people know how to properly use a tool? It tales years to learn how to efficiently use a grinder, file, sander, or spray gun. Put any of those in the hands of an untrained person and that spells disaster. Then people expect to take an expensive, sophisticated tool like a cell phone, laptop, or computer, put it in the hands of people with zero training, and expect to see miracles. Lots of luck with that. I’ve found out, this automatic word fill in and spell checking feature on this laptop can make you, or break you. I’ve also found out that as soon as you get really efficient on any phone app or computer program, some idiot who really doesn’t work for a living decided to change everything. Open the program up and everything is moved around. How irritating. How rude. That’s one of the reasons I switched over to a Linux system. I’ve worked with Linux a long time. I know one thing, no one adds, changes, or updates a thing on my computer without my permission. On a Windows system they come in and update everything whenever they want. A dollar says, the person who decided to create those updates never used the program to perform a real job, has no idea what you do for a living, didn’t bother to test the new software program before releasing it to the world, and obviously forgot to add a few lines of coding on your favorite feature. Some days it seems the only thing a computer does well is frustrate you.

I’ve learned the good old days are not gone. There is city life, and country life. There is the fast paced life, and the slow and easy life. And the choice is yours. Be driven, or take the wheel and be in control. There is a world of difference. Look for future stories about country life, and what it feels like to relax for a moment. Oh, and the really cool old time stuff in small towns.

What else have I learned? A lot of things. But right now a few of those other articles need a little attention. And I have to do some marketing. I remember when everything on the Internet was free. Some of it still is. And I intend to use all of them to promote this story and my website. Websites are nice, but they are no substitute for personal contact and a real conversation. And that’s what life is all about. The people you meet, services you provide, and becoming a success in whatever you do. Not just a success, but the best. I’ve learned the best is not measured in volume, sales, or dollars, but in quality, pride in your work. In the evening when you look out over the field to watch the sunset and you don’t have to worry about steps you missed, details you forgot, and a million things you have to do tomorrow to cover your butt. Know your process, the steps involved. Use your computer to set up a calender of events, due dates, reminders, organize phone numbers, and do a few other things. I’ve been around computers long enough to know, computers have limitations, and so do people. Computers can be a great tool, but what happens when the tool begins to control the user? More on that later.